this challenge was nothing but fun from start to finish. i originally had planned to do a blouse based on my school picture from 1st grade (crazy, crazy 80s dress with pouffy sleeves and a kite motif), but couldn’t find a picture of me wearing it. i found a picture of my sister wearing it several years after i would have owned it, but not me. so, lacking inspiration, i moved on to a treasure trove of family albums i sort of inherited/stole from my grandfather after he passed away. he kept beautiful, well-chronicled photo albums from the time he was in the army (he invaded normandy in the 1940s) until the late 90s, when he (i think) became too ill to keep up the practice. it was stunning to look at all of the places he and my grandmother traveled to (another hobby he had to give up late in his life) and to see all of the amazing family photos from when my mother was young–and then again, from when my sister and i were young.

this photo is dated spring 1992. i am not sure why i am so happy, since the presence of matzoh on the counter means i am on the brink of a week of starvation. maybe i was too young to understand the impending doom?

in terms of creating a new look, a classic knit top was the obvious and exciting choice, since i’ve been itching to try the renfrew. and i had gorgeous scraps of heart-motif fabric leftover from a 1950s cowl dress i did late last year to add an applique to the top–still fun, still a bit kitschy, but updated enough that i can get away with it at 30 the same way i did when i was 10. the fabric was selected for my by the gorgeous ann of gorgeous fabrics, since this was my first knit top and i wasn’t sure what sort of fabric i should be using. (if you don’t already love her and her shop, you should.)

the knit is just slightly slinky, in a fun way, so i took the added precaution of stabilizing not just the shoulder seam but the armscye and v-neck as well. i cut a heart out of my CDC scrap, fused it with some interfacing (another helpful scrap, this time from fashion fabric supply) and zig-zagged it straight on to the top, raw edges and all.

6 Comments

oh gosh, I’m **rolling** on floor laughing at this “i found a picture of my sister wearing it several years after i would have owned it” and this “since the presence of matzoh on the counter means i am on the brink of a week of starvation” funny!!!! Sweet top and is that a vintage machine back there? Nice! :-)

About the Sew Weekly

The Sew Weekly began as Mena Trott's attempt to document the process of sewing all of her own clothes in 2010. In 2011, four other contributors (Debi Fry, Adey Lim, Veronica Darling & Sarah Gabbart) joined her and for 52 weeks, they sewed based on a particular weekly theme. In 2012, The Sew Weekly became a much larger group blog with over 130 contributors sewing along each week.